From the map all of the upper areas of the mine are this large, I plan to let Lizzy roam around and hunt down any beasts that are up here. Meanwhile, I get to check out all the lower mine shafts where Lizzy won't fit and clear them out, leaving the shaft that broke through for last. Luckily from what I saw before they are not pack hunters, like velociraptors, so they shouldn't be hard to deal with.

"Lizzy, I want you to search all the upper chambers and kill anything that isn't human."

She seems excited and as soon as I take her saddle off she takes off into the maze of passages. Now anything hiding up here or that comes up to go hunting Lizzy will take care of. Now on to my job, I start with the smallest mine shaft and start going through them one by one checking for beasts.

As I am searching I can't help but think that I shouldn't be here, I should be on my way to the temple of wind. That will be my next mission, this is important for Illium, not the mine itself but what it will represent. All those nobles can convince themselves that the drake story is just a story, but this is something they won't be able to ignore.

It should also help get the miner's and blacksmith's guilds to lean our way, and it will hurt Pine directly. The raise in prices won't really hurt him, but he will know he is the only one paying higher prices and that will worry him. If he becomes hostile to the blacksmith's guild because of it, that will push them further to our side and they will bring the miners with them.

If Pelos and Scott side with Ambrose that gives him the majority of the council and will allow him better control of the city. It will also prevent Pine from winning votes and that should hinder his plans quite a bit. I may hate politics but I have to admit that this part at least is kind of fun.

Killing my enemies is much faster, but plotting to bring someone down like this is definitely enjoyable. The best part is these are all just distractions to keep Pine from noticing Pol's merchant caravan. If Pol is even decently successful we will destroy the merchant's guild in one simple move.

As I am thinking all this I am walking down the fourth mine shaft, but I am still paying attention. So when a shadow suddenly moves I am already moving to dodge before I can even see that it is a bird-thing. As it lunges out at me I take a half step back and turn my body slightly so that it misses me completely.

Its head passes in front of me, jaws wide, and I reach up and draw Blitz, bringing it down in one smooth motion. The thing's head hits the far wall as the body collapses at my feet, getting a look at it confirms it is the same thing I fought beneath the kingdom. My speed is at least a match for it this time, but it worries me a little that I didn't spot it until it moved.

'Summon Bones!'

"Bones I need you to watch my back, these things are the enemy. They are extremely fast and like to attack from ambush."

Bones gives me a happy chattering noise and starts looking around as I kneel down next to the body. First I pluck all the feathers and those that aren't damaged go into my pouch. I am not sure if they will be useful for anything but no sense wasting them, once the feathers are gone I start skinning it very carefully.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Skinning has progressed to level 5!

Skinning

Level 5

Agi +5

You can skin well enough to preserve the hide.

That should help, I want to keep the hide as intact as I possibly can to give Walter good materials to work with. Once the hide is removed, scraped clean, and placed in my pouch I start taking the meat off the bones. I don't keep all the meat since I expect to kill several more of these things, I just keep the best parts.

As I am starting to collect the bones I hear a collision and then a screech behind me. When I turn to look I see Bones fighting another bird-thing, it has an advantage in speed but Bones is holding his own. Instead of getting up to help I just watch, I want to see how well Bones does on his own.

The bird-thing manages to get several hits in on Bones but his armor takes the hits without showing any signs of damage. Bones' attacks on the beast are much more effective and in a couple of minutes he manages to kill the thing. Throughout the fight Bones is chattering away happily and I can tell he is really enjoying the fight.

Bones has gained a level!

It still makes me jealous every time he gains a level, I want to be the one leveling up! Bones drags the body over next to me and then goes back to keeping an eye out for more attacks. I go back to working on the first body, the large bones go into my pouch to give to Mitch later.

The smaller bones that won't be useful I toss to Bones who catches them and pops them in his mouth like they are candy. Once all the bones are removed from the first body I repeat the process on the second body. At least this delay is going to provide some materials for the crafters to play with until Pol gets back.

"Come on Bones, let's go find some more to kill."

Bones chitters happily as he follows me, I would probably be fine on my own but it is reassuring having him watching my back. We finish that mine shaft and the next without any more encounters, only two left to go. As we are moving down the next shaft Bones suddenly moves in front of me with his shield raised.

The shadow he is facing suddenly moves to attack and he catches the attack on his shield. As the thing stops from the impact I move past Bones with Blitz in hand. While the bird-thing is still biting at Bones' shield I bring Blitz under and up and cut through its neck in a single move.

"Bones, how did you know it was there? It hadn't moved yet!"

Bones cocks his head as if considering my words and then points at the body and then at his head. Maybe he is telling me that he sensed the thing, he is an undead and in D&D undead sometimes have the ability to sense living things. If that is the case it would explain how he was able to detect the thing and react to its attack even though it is faster than he is.

"Bones, can you sense living things in the area around you?"

Bones nods and looks happy that I understand what is going on even though he can't explain it to me. So after I deal with the body we continue on and clear the rest of the shaft, then we move into the last one. This one is the deepest and the one I think the bird-things came from, and I am expecting to find an entrance to a cave system somewhere at the bottom of this shaft.